Award!

Inigo and the man in black meet

“You seem a decent fellow," Inigo said. "I hate to kill you."
"You seem a decent fellow," answered the man in black. "I hate to die.” 

― William Goldman, The Princess Bride

Andy Thomas at the White House?

I hear from my gofer bud at the White House that President Donald Trump liked a painting of him (by artist Andy Thomas) and which shows the President having drinks with several Republican Presidents - such as Ike, Ronaldus Magnus, Abraham Lincoln, Richard Nixon, Bush I and II, and Teddy Roosevelt - so much that he has a print of it in the White House.

Wonder where the original is?

Andy?

Grants for Sculptors

Deadline: October 1, 2018

The National Sculpture Society has calls for three grants for figurative/realist sculptors - $5,000 each. No Entry Fee. 

Details: 212-764-5645 OR click here.

Opportunity for artists

Deadline: December 31, 2018. 

Arts and Education at the Hoyt is currently seeking artists to fill its 2020 - 2021 Exhibition Schedule. Solo, duo, collectives and curatorial proposals are welcome. 

Artists living in the Mid-Atlantic region (PA, OH, NY, NJ, MD, VA, W.VA, DE and Washington DC) are invited to apply. 

Please submit a proposal that includes; exhibition description, 10-20 jpeg images, image list with titles, media and dimensions, resume or curriculum vitae, and a $25.00 review fee. 

For more information or to apply online visit this link.

Ave Frida Es Regina

AVE FRIDA ES REGINA, 2012
Original Charcoal and Conte Drawing with Embedded Video Player -Continuous Loop
31 × 26 in; 78.7 × 66 cm

This work of mine from 2012 is currently available for a steal at this wonderful charity auction for a great cause - read about the auction below and bid here.

Call for Artists

Deadline: 10/26/18 

Public Art Reston, in partnership with Reston Association and Atlantic Realty Companies, seeks an artist or artist-led team to develop a site-specific artwork in a permanent medium to enhance the exterior and interior walls of the Colts Neck Road underpass in Reston, VA. The project will promote active use of the underpass that links residential areas, Hunters Woods Village Center, two schools, two senior facilities, and two community centers. At the Colts Neck Road underpass, public art will have the opportunity to enhance the community’s relationship to their infrastructure and encourage active transportation options such as walking and cycling. The artist or artist team will actively engage with community stakeholders to develop the concept of the artwork and will give workshops to students.  This project is an opportunity for infrastructure beautification, education, engagement, and inspiration. 

VIEW MORE INFO
APPLY TO THIS CALL

Museum Day: Celebrate women at AU today!

Smithsonian Magazine's Museum Day represents a nationwide commitment to access, equity, and inclusion. Stop by the AU Museum from 11-4PM to view their Fall exhibitions, and join them for a special Saturday docent-led tour at 1PM.

The theme of this year's Museum Day is "Women Making History," honoring women in society who are trailblazers in the arts, sciences, innovation, and culture. Today, they are spotlighting Emilie Brzezinski and Dalya Luttwak's exhibition "Finding a Path", a collaboration in wood and steel in the museum and sculpture garden.

Here in the DMV we are lucky in that most museums (including AU) are free; however, for those few ones that require an entry fee (such as the amazing Spy Museum), they're free today!

Bruce McKaig at Gormley Gallery

Bruce McKaig: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Workers, on view October 22 through November 30.

Artist's Reception

Saturday, October 27, from 4:00 to 6:00

Gormley Gallery

Parlor Games in the Library

Saturday, November 10, from 4:00 to 6:00

Fourier Hall 103

Bruce McKaig's practice explores the power of images to reshape realities, sometimes juxtaposing antiquated techniques or objects with contemporary themes and issues. This exhibition, organized around three series -- the cowboy, the wrestler, and the dictator -- combines McKaig's own artworks with curated images and materials that explore some of the historical and current cultural and socio-economic relationships between photography and those themes.

Gormley Gallery-Notre Dame of Maryland University, 4701 N. Charles St., Fourier Hall, 2nd floor, Baltimore, MD 21210

17th Annual County Awards

Daphne is ready to ship

Daphne
Charcoal on paper, 28x22 inches, c.2018

Just finished this piece. It is titled "Daphe", and it is a charcoal on paper, 28x22 inches. It will soon either be at the Superfine Art Fair in Washington, DC or at Context Art Miami in Miami.

Daphne (meaning Laurel) was a nymph who was the daughter of the river god Peneus. Apollo fell in lust with her and chased her - as he was about to ravish her, either the Earth goddess Gaea or her father, reached from under the Earth and turned Daphne into a Laurel tree to save her from Apollo. 

Erwin Timmers named Montgomery County "Outstanding Artist"

The Washington Glass School's own Erwin Timmers has been given a Montgomery County Executive's Awards for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities!

These awards are the most prestigious honors conferred by Montgomery County on individual artists, scholars, organizations and cultural patrons. 

This year, WGS Co-Director Erwin Timmers has been named Montgomery County's "Outstanding Artist" .

Details here.

Roulet curating!

My good friend and DMV uber curator Laura Roulet has been busy as ususal!

She has openings of two exhibitions, both on Saturday, November 10 which she worked. 

She organized Ian Jehle: Dynamical Systems for the Katzen Center, American University Museum, here in Washington. It features Jehle's portraits of luminaries from the D.C. art community combined with site-specific, mathematical wall drawings.  

She also curated Brian Michael Reed: In the Crosscurrent as a dialogue between West Virginia artist Reed's assemblage sculpture and the Huntington Museum of Art's outstanding Haitian art collection.

Scholarship for college students

Deadline: October 15, 2018

Pretty Photoshop Actions recognizes the importance of higher education and the role it plays in our personal and professional fulfillment. That's why they are so excited to continue their Pretty Photoshop Actions $500 bi-annual scholarship. 

This ongoing scholarship provides college and university students an opportunity to earn money to further their education and achieve their goals! 

No Entry Fee. Details: http://bitly.com/2LZ7XkU

Call for show proposals for 2019

Deadline: October 15, 2018

Valdosta State University (VSU) Dedo Maranville Fine Arts Gallery (Valdosta, Georgia) is reviewing solo and small group exhibition proposals for the 2019-2020 academic year.

Application fee: $15, Artists 18+, All media, Artwork is insured while in the gallery. 

No sales commission. Application Fee. 

Details: 229-333-5835 OR http://bit.ly/2Q9oGFo OR jabowlan@valdosta.edu

Glenstone Museum opens to the public on Oct. 4!

Glenstone Museum in Potomac, Maryland, will begin welcoming the public on October 4, 2018, revealing the results of a five-year expansion that has at last fully realized its founders’ vision of art, architecture, and landscape merged into a seamless experience.

Established by Emily Wei Rales and Mitchell P. Rales, Glenstone opened in 2006 and now includes a new 204,000-square-foot museum building called the Pavilions, designed by Thomas Phifer of Thomas Phifer and Partners; an additional 130 acres of rolling meadows, woodlands, and streams, designed by Adam Greenspan and Peter Walker of PWP Landscape Architecture; an Arrival Hall and bookstore; and two cafés. The original 30,000-square-foot museum building, called the Gallery, was designed by Charles Gwathmey of Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects, and opened in a 100-acre setting. With the addition of its new facilities, Glenstone now offers the public a total of 59,000 square feet of indoor exhibition space in two buildings, with all works drawn from its own renowned collection of modern and contemporary art, and 230 acres of serene, unspoiled landscape incorporating installations of major works of outdoor sculpture.

“Mitch and I have been dreaming for years about the day when we’d be able to pull back the curtain and reveal the new Glenstone,” said Emily Rales, director and co-founder of Glenstone. “Now, at last, the art installations and buildings and landscape are complete, and people can finally encounter Glenstone as a whole, as we’ve always meant for it to be seen. We’re excited by Glenstone, and we hope our visitors will share that feeling, now and for many years to come.”

“We’re deeply grateful to everyone who has worked with us to create Glenstone: the great artists who have given us their trust and collaboration, the magnificently talented architects and landscape architects who have been our partners, and the wonderfully dedicated professional staff who have lived this journey with us every step of the way,” said Mitchell P. Rales, co-founder. “Now we’re thrilled to welcome the people who are really the most important collaborators of all: the visitors for whom we’ve built the new Glenstone.”

Admission to Glenstone is always free, with visits scheduled on the website (www.glenstone.org) to ensure an unhurried and uncrowded experience for all.

The integration of architecture with landscape, and both with art, is key to the experience of Glenstone. “We considered the landscape as the inspiration,” Thomas Phifer explains. “The visitor’s arrival is choreographed through the trees and open fields, heightening your experience with the land and revealing the subtle qualities of the site. From your first moments at Glenstone you experience a place with few distractions, the bustle of ordinary daily activities drops away, and your mind and soul prepare for an intimate encounter with art.”

Inaugural Presentations in the Pavilions

The Pavilions, constructed of stacked blocks of concrete inset with broad expanses of glass, is embedded into the landscape of Glenstone like a natural feature. From the outside, the building appears to comprise a group of eleven separate masonry structures, reminiscent perhaps of an Italian hill town. Inside, visitors discover eleven distinct rooms—each with a size, proportion, and treatment of light specially suited to its purpose—connected by a glass-walled Passage ringing a lushly planted, 18,000-square-foot Water Court.

Works selected for the inaugural installation of the Pavilions exemplify the philosophy of Glenstone’s collection, representing key moments in the development of art since World War II, a period when our understanding of the nature of art has been continually challenged and redefined. At the time of the opening, nine rooms of the Pavilions house single-artist installations of major works or bodies of work.

The single-artist installations, many realized with the collaboration of the artists, are:
•  two large-scale sculptures by Martin Puryear: Big Phrygian, 2010-2014, and The Load, 2012, monumental examples of the artist’s evocations of history, identity, and struggle (Room 1)
•  the Moon Landing triptych by On Kawara, 1969, three large-scale canvases commemorating the Apollo 11lunar landing mission of July 1969, comprising one of the very rare groups of the artist’s Date Paintings designated as a set, installed in a skylit room (Room 3)
•  Untitled, 1992, by Robert Gober, a major three-section installation work first presented at Dia Center for the Arts, shown for the first time on long-term view (Room 4)
•  Collapse, 1967/2016, by Michael Heizer, a sculpture of 15 steel beams placed in a seemingly chance arrangement within the constructed negative space of a rectangular pit (Room 5), with Heizer’s 1968/2016Compression Line constructed in the landscape outside the building
•  Ever is Over All, 1997, by Pipilotti Rist, an immersive, two-channel video and sound installation featuring the artist in a staged on-the-street performance (Room 6)
•  four sculptures by Charles Ray—Table, 1990, Fall ’91, 1992, The New Beetle, 2005, and Baled Truck, 2014—presented with Ray’s collaboration as the first in an ongoing series (Room 8)
•  Livro do Tempo I, 1961, by Lygia Pape, an assemblage of 365 unique wooden geometric reliefs, each representing one day of the year (Room 9)
•  Moss Sutra with the Seasons, 2010-2015, by Brice Marden, a magisterial five-panel painting that is the artist’s only commissioned work, bathed in a natural light that comes through clerestory windows (Room 10)
•  and five sculptures, 1951-1991, by Cy Twombly, selected in consultation with the artist (Room 11)

The largest room in the Pavilions (Room 2), with 9,000 square feet of column-free space, houses an inaugural installation of 65 artworks by 52 artists, dating from 1943 to 1989. Showing the depth and breadth of Glenstone’s collection, these iconic examples of movements including Abstract Expressionism, Gutai, Brazilian modernism, Arte Povera, Minimalism, and post-Minimalism are by Arman, Ruth Asawa, Jo Baer, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lynda Benglis, Joseph Beuys, Alighiero e Boetti, Lee Bontecou, Marcel Broodthaers, Alexander Calder, Sergio Camargo, Lygia Clark, Willem de Kooning, Marcel Duchamp, Dan Flavin, Alberto Giacometti, Arshile Gorky, David Hammons, Keith Haring, Eva Hesse, Jasper Johns, Donald Judd, Akira Kanayama, Martin Kippenberger, Yves Klein, Franz Kline, Barbara Kruger, Yayoi Kusama, Sol LeWitt, Agnes Martin, Marisa Merz, Sadamasa Motonaga, Bruce Nauman, Hélio Oiticica, Sigmar Polke, Jackson Pollock, Robert Rauschenberg, Faith Ringgold, Dieter Roth, Mark Rothko, Mira Schendel, Richard Serra, Shozo Shimamoto, Kazuo Shiraga, Frank Stella, Clyfford Still, Atsuko Tanaka, Jean Tinguely, Rosemarie Trockel, Anne Truitt, Andy Warhol, and Toshio Yoshida.

On view at the entry to the Pavilions is a language work by Lawrence Weiner, MATTER SO SHAKEN TO ITS CORE TO LEAD TO A CHANGE IN INHERENT FORM TO THE EXTENT OF BRINGING ABOUT A CHANGE IN THE DESTINY OF THE MATERIAL PRIMARY, SECONDARY, TERTIARY, 2002, commissioned by Glenstone. Shown in the Passage along the Water Court are Water Double, v. 3, 2013-2015, by Roni Horn, two of the largest solid cast-glass cylinders the artist has created. In the Viewing Gallery (Room 7), the sole fixed object is a bench designed by Martin Puryear and furniture maker Michael Hurwitz, on which visitors may relax, enjoy a framed view of nature, and browse through a selection of art books recommended by artists featured in the Pavilions. Puryear and Hurwitz also designed a bench that is installed on a platform overlooking the Water Court, a bench in the Entry Pavilion, and benches throughout the Passage.

In the Gallery: Louise Bourgeois: To Unravel a Torment
Since its opening in 2006, Glenstone has used its Gallery building for thematic group exhibitions and monographic surveys, the latter of which have featured the works of Roni Horn, Fred Sandback, and Peter Fischli David Weiss. When the new Glenstone opens on October 4, the Gallery will be installed with the temporary exhibition Louise Bourgeois: To Unravel a Torment. This five-decade survey of Bourgeois’s achievement, drawn entirely from Glenstone’s collection, features nearly thirty works, from the artist’s early wooden “Personage” sculptures (1947-1954) through the room-like installations she called “Cells” (1990-1993) and includes a recently acquired masterpiece, The Destruction of the Father, 1974, that was a turning point in her career. The exhibition, which opened in May 2018, will remain on view through January 2020.
Outdoor Sculpture at Glenstone
Outdoor sculptures integrated into the landscape at Glenstone include major works by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, FOREST (for a thousand years…), 2012; Robert Gober, Two Partially Buried Sinks, 1986-1987; Andy Goldsworthy, Clay Houses (Boulder-Room-Holes), 2007; Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Untitled, 1992-1995, realized posthumously by Glenstone in 2007; Ellsworth Kelly, Untitled, 2005; Jeff Koons, Split-Rocker, 2000, the only permanent installation of this monumental floral sculpture; Richard Serra,Sylvester, 2001, and the commissioned Contour 290, 2004; and Tony Smith, Smug, 1973/2005, realized by Glenstone in its intended painted aluminum version after the artist’s death, in close collaboration with his family.

The Architecture and Landscape of Glenstone
Visitors arriving at Glenstone do not immediately enter the museum building, but instead leave their cars in a parking grove and go to a freestanding Arrival Hall, clad with cedar on the exterior and finished inside with white maple. After being greeted and getting their bearings, the visitors proceed on a short journey, passing over a stream on a timber bridge, crossing an expansive meadow with an outdoor sculpture visible in the distance, and then beginning to glimpse the Pavilions on the contoured path through low, rolling hills, wooded with honey locusts, oaks, and tulip trees.

As the path curves up a rise in the land, visitors at last get their first full view of the Pavilions, which at this point appears to be a cluster of simple masonry forms, varying in size and embedded in the top of a knoll. It is only when they go into the Entry Pavilion and then descend to gallery level that they discern that the apparently separate structures of the Pavilions are in fact a ring of rooms, connected by the glass-walled Passage that lines the Water Court.

Natural light is fundamental to the design of the Pavilions. Most rooms have large clerestories or laylights to provide balanced daylight from above. The play of light and shadow varies throughout the day, and as the seasons change the light fluctuates, revealing subtle qualities in the artworks and providing a more natural and nuanced viewing experience.

To punctuate their encounters with the art, visitors may step outside to the Water Court for a quiet, contemplative moment with the open air, the sky, and the plantings of water lilies, rushes, and irises that change through the seasons. From within the Water Court, it is also possible to appreciate how the primary materials of the Pavilions evoke a direct, timeless, and elemental dialogue with the natural surroundings. The exteriors are made of stacked blocks of cast concrete, individually poured to measure six feet long, a foot high, and a foot deep. Although no color-altering pigment was used, the pouring method and mixture of cement and sand result in slight variations in the light gray color and in the texture. This finish contrasts with the smooth precision of the windows, which have been specially engineered using glass panels as large as nine feet by thirty feet and are set flush into stainless steel mullions. The glass surfaces and concrete blocks form a seamless skin that bridges the building’s indoor and outdoor spaces.

Much as Thomas Phifer designed the architecture as part of the experience of landscape and art, PWP Landscape Architecture has designed the landscape to be integrated with the art and architecture. “Instead of focusing the landscape design around the buildings and making them singular destinations,” Adam Greenspan explains, “we proposed from the start to unify the property as a destination in its entirety, outside the city. Our goal is to slow people down in their experience of the setting, changing their daily tempo and expectations of ornamental suburban plantings. Visitors will come to an integrated and relaxed way of focusing on the art and architecture, within an almost rural landscape that foregrounds the dynamic qualities of nature.”

The landscape design integrates walking paths, bridges, and restored streams, meadows, and woodlands. Glenstone has planted over 8,000 trees on the site since opening in 2006 and has developed approximately 33 acres of mown pasture land into sustainable meadows with a range of indigenous flora. The visitor entrance is framed by dry-stack stone walls constructed by a master craftsman with stone sourced from a nearby quarry.

Glenstone manages its landscape through exclusively organic methods, supporting a wide range of local ecosystems and maintaining a balance between native flora and fauna and the museum’s human-made structures. As part of its commitment to sustainability, the new Glenstone incorporates a freestanding Environmental Center, a multiuse maintenance and education facility where, in 2019, visitors may learn about techniques practiced by the museum, including on-site composting, compost tea-brewing, natural landscape management, waste reduction, materials recycling, and water conservation.

Publications
On the occasion of the re-opening, Glenstone has published a series of books about the work of artists represented in the collection, available at the museum or through Artbook | D.A.P. (www.artbook.com). Edited by Emily Wei Rales in collaboration with Glenstone’s curatorial staff and featuring original texts by a range of scholars, the amply illustrated, full-color publications include a catalogue accompanying the exhibition Louise Bourgeois: To Unravel a Torment and monographs about some of the artists shown in the Pavilions. In addition, Glenstone has published a visitor-friendly, 64-page Field Guide, featuring alphabetized entries by 56 contributors about the museum’s art, architecture, and landscape and light-hearted illustrations by Jordan Awan.

About Glenstone Museum
Glenstone, a museum of modern and contemporary art, is integrated into more than 230 acres of gently rolling pasture and unspoiled woodland in Montgomery County, Maryland, less than 15 miles from the heart of Washington, DC. Established by the not-for-profit Glenstone Foundation, the museum opened in 2006 and provides a contemplative, intimate setting for experiencing iconic works of art and architecture within a natural environment.

Glenstone is open Thursdays through Sundays, 10 am to 5 pm. Visitors are invited to explore the grounds on their own or join one of several outdoor sculpture tours offered throughout the day. Admission to Glenstone and parking are free and visits can be scheduled online at: www.glenstone.org. Same-day visits can be scheduled using the website or a smartphone. Please note: Glenstone is closed to the public until the grand re-opening on October 4.

Soon at an art fair in the USA

"Sonnets to the Portuguese (Homage to Elizabeth Barrett Browning)"
Detail -- Charcoal, conte and watercolor. 12x19 inches. 2018

SAVE THE DATE: Mayor's Arts Awards!

The Mayor's Arts Awards are the most prestigious honors conferred by the city on individual artists, teachers, nonprofit organizations and patrons of the arts. This year, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities will present the 33rd Annual Mayor's Arts Awards. Artists and Organizations will be recognized in six categories: Excellence in Visual Arts, Excellence in Performance Arts, Excellence in Creative Industries, Excellence in Arts Education, Excellence in the Humanities and The Larry Neal Writers' Award.

The Demon of Lust

"Fallen Angels: Asmodeus, Demon of Lust."
(Detail) 19x12 inches, c. 2018. Charcoal, conte and watercolor.
Soon at an art fair in the USA. 

In the Malleus Maleficarum, Asmodeus was considered te demon of lust.  He has also been recorded as the result of the coupling between Adam and the angel of prostitution, Naamah, conceived while Adam was married to The Lilith.

Lest we forget




"Studio View, 9/11"
Oil on Canvas c. 9/11/2001 by David FeBland